Love in the Shadows of Legacy

r than the first. It started with a cr

CFO needs to see you immediately. Something about quarterly proj

my latte. "Potent

t Mr. Hartley is concerned a

id "confidence in new leaders

ve executives whose combined experience probably summed up to tw

to submit quarterly projections to the board by Friday. These projections in

I'd stayed up until 3 AM reading about corporate financial rep

. Clearly, they'd expected me to

s. But you should understand what yo

e. In plain English,

r had. Sterling and his team walked me through everything – revenue s

ronyms: EBITDA, ROI,

led mysel

acquisitions and gallery management. It shows dec

good question. The division head cl

don't bel

," Hartley admitted. "But it was Mr. Thom

isions I know nothing about. Yet. Arrange a meeting with the division head. I

g smiled, for the first time sin

f meetings. Department heads paraded throu

ether I was the pus

rhaul the entire system. HR wanted to discuss "cult

s, I denied others, and asked

dership, but at least I wasn't

elt like it had bee

tell me I have

she said apologetically. "But I ordered from that Italian pla

ed her. "Janet, y

g my job,

eting was actua

of course, seemed less host

mpany, listened when I admitted what I didn't know,

think, maybe I cou

en running on coffee and adrenaline since

ave any more m

eting with Grand Palms Hotels for 5 PM.

dollar client who wanted

e to prepare?"

ther all the relevant files, contract history, a

eading everything. I absorbed everything I could about Grand Palms Hotels, our b

to Conference Room B, where

. I should warn you, Duke Carter, th

id, with more confidence th

s. He had steel-gray hair and eyes that assessed

heard Richard Thompson died and left his company to someone with zero busin

id calmly. "You agreed

y. I wanted to see what kind of person could convince

MBA from Harvard. What I have is respect for what Richard built, determination not to let his employees down, and enough common sense to surround myself with

d anything Marcus looked like

ssion cracked into something

" He stood and extended his hand this time. "I'll honor our contract for now, Miss

hook his hand firmly. "I wou

ft, Marcus look

as, but it worked. I'll be honest, I

said, feeling like I c

30, every muscle in my body ached.

take the company car,

ooks from other passengers who recognized

especially shabby after a d

ed five flights of stairs in heels that

heels, stripped off the blazer, and collap

t from Sophia: How was

kept a 40 million dollar c

ng in millions! My little

on. At least, no matter what

rifted to Alexander. I'd managed to avoid him all day, but I knew

ought dread an

the mirror across the room. I looked every bit exh

s also d

whispered to my refle

t with all the people counting on me

lexander Thompson waiting

ickly. Tomorrow would bring new challenges

t tonight,